Lake Placid
An investigative team, armed with state-of-the-art equipment, high powered weaponry and a biting sense of sarcasm, must work together to defeat Black Lake’s most ferocious resident: a 30-foot prehistoric crocodile! Betty White co-stars as the cantankerous Mrs. Bickerman – a role you’ve got to hear to believe – in this terrifying tale of survival that “combines humor and thrills with remarkable deftness.”Lake Placid is total trash–and, as a result, fairly entertaining. Yet another entry in the horror subgenre of giant animals running amok, Lake Placid features a giant crocodile that has somehow found its way to an isolated lake in Maine. The absurdity of crocodiles in Maine sets the tone for the entire movie, which has no ambitions beyond mixing a little fright with a little humor. Bridget Fonda (Point of No Return, Jackie Brown) plays a paleontologist sent to investigate a large tooth; Bill Pullman (Independence Day, Lost Highway) is a fish and game warden just trying to keep the peace; Oliver Platt (Funny Bones, Flatliners) plays a loose-cannon mythology professor who swims with crocodiles for sport; and Brendan Gleeson (an excellent but little-known actor, most noted for The General) is a local sheriff with a short temper and a big gun. Add a few gruesome dismemberments, Betty White as a cantankerous old broad who may have murdered her husband, and a cow hanging from a helicopter, and there you have it: Lake Placid. (Curiously, this concoction was put together by David E. Kelley, better known as the creator of TV’s Ally McBeal and The Practice.) –Bret Fetzer
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(out of 233 reviews)
Review by K. Fontenot for Lake Placid
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I hated this movie when I first saw it. I always felt that it tried too hard to be funny. However, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it, and I was bored one night so I gave it another chance. I’m glad I did. While it isn’t as good as “Anaconda,” it does have some good qualities about it. The cast does very well with the campy dialogue they are given. The interactions between Oliver Platt and Brendan Gleeson are downright funny, and their relationship really steals the show. Everyone talks about Betty White’s character in this flick, and it is pretty funny to watch her spew out curse word after curse word, but my favorite line of hers is how she delivers the word “Sherlock!” to Gleeson’s character.
The crocodile looks pretty good. In a couple of scenes it is obvious that he’s an animatronic croc, but thank heavens that the entire thing isn’t CG-created. It’s nice to see that puppeteers can still find work in Hollywood. Though the puppets are great, the CGI isn’t too shabby either. The croc really is impressive to see on the screen. He’s definitely done on a higher level than the aforementioned “Anaconda.”
I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys giant creature features with a hefty dose of macabre humor. Though it may be subpar when compared to other films of the genre, it is definitely better than the SciFi channel offerings such as “Dinocroc” and “Frankenfish.” SciFi channel seems to be the last domain for larger-than-life creature flicks. Though I commend them for attempting to keep the genre above water, I wish that more camp-fests like “Lake Placid” could find their way to the big-screen.
Review by Craig Larson for Lake Placid
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Written by David E. Kelley, the mastermind behind television’s Ally McBeal and The Practice (both of which won Emmys in the “best of” categories last year), _Lake Placid_ is a comic horror film about the search for a giant crocodile, inexplicably living in a landlocked lake in upstate New York. When a diver is eaten alive in the opening moments, by some unknown creature, the local game warden (Pullman) teams up with a paleontologist (Fonda) from New York to find the beast. Add to this mix an eccentric millionaire philanthropist with a penchant for swimming with “crocs” (Platt), and the local sheriff (Brendan Gleeson), who thinks the man is nuts, and you’ve got the recipe for one of the more underrated of last summer’s films. This is a horror film and it can, at times, get quite messy (see the opening attack sequence, for example). The special effects work is about what you’d expect in such a film, although with the advent of computer graphics, it’s a lot easier to bring a realistic giant crocodile to life. Surprisingly, though, there are few deaths in the film. The emphasis is more on suspenseful moments of the Jaws variety, in which we wonder whether unlucky swimmers are about to become lunch. And, there are even a couple of gross, but funny moments in the film, as when an eccentric old lady (played by Betty White) offers random farm animals as sacrifices to the croc. But the real emphasis in the film is on the humor and there are some great conversations and arguments among the film’s characters, particularly Platt’s whacko croc-swimmer and Brendan Gleeson’s sheriff (in one of the more unusual bits of casting, as the Irish Gleeson is forced to adopt an American accent, which tends to slip in some of the more heated moments). And White’s character is also played for laughs (you’ll be surprised at some of the inventive curses she comes up with). The film wasn’t particularly well-received when first released last summer, but luckily, with its release on video, this can be remedied. This is not a film for everyone’s tastes, but if, like me, you occasionally hunger for a “giant-animal-runs-amuck” film, _Lake Placid_ more than fills the bill.
Review by Joshua Koppel for Lake Placid
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A Fish and Game worker is doing a survey of beavers in a placid lake with the local sherrif when he suddenly becomes half the man he was and dies. Local law enforcement, Fish and Game, and a New York museum worker set out to discover what happened. They are soon joined by an eccentric millionaire who loves crocodiles.Is there a crocodile in the lake? At first few believe that such a thing could be until hard evidence shows up. The Crocodile is not an ordinary one, it is thirty feet in length. The camp is quickly split between those who want to kill it and those who want to save it. To learn it’s fate you will have to watch the film.This is a very well-done piece of work. The characters are interesting and there is just enough sarcastic humor to really lighten the mood. Betty White plays a foul-mouthed local resident and her delivery of her “I’m rooting for the crocodile” line is an instant classic. This is a fun film and far from typical. It is not just a giant-lizard-eating-people film. Check it out.
Review by Inspector Gadget for Lake Placid
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Take away the beginning and end credits and what you are left with is a 75-minute long movie that wasn’t worth the price of admission in the cinema but is worth owning on DVD. What I liked about Lake Placid is that it is kind of light-hearted and doesn’t try and make itself a full-blown horror by showing us guts and entrails. The movie is NOT serious and has many suspenseful scenes packed into it’s VERY brief running time. The cast are delightful and the big nasty croc is actually quite sympathetic at the end. Buy this DVD and enjoy for what it is…a light, breezy comedy-thriller that nails the bullseye instead of aiming for higher (and ultimatly lesser) results. The DVD has some promotional material and a trailer. It is in Dolby 5.1 and is letterboxed at 2.35:1.
Review by CitiB for Lake Placid
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Pretty fun. Light hearted as a movie where a huge reptile bites people in half can get I suppose. Um, the plot isn’t really a factor here, just the execution. The movie doesn’t take itself seriously, and it moves at a very brisk pace. The performances are fun and care free, Oliver Platt’s hilarious, so is everyone else with much of a speaking role (Betty White steals the show). Pure popcorn entertainment, and pretty delightful… The only flaw I suppose is that it’s so lighthearted it’s somewhat forgettable. I didn’t even remember it until I saw the video cover in a rental store and was like “oh yeah, that was fun…” It’s not JAWS, and it doesn’t want to be, it just wants to entertain, and who am I to stop it from doing so? Overall, a solid, exciting experience.